Monte Carlo, Mille Miglia, Nurburgring .
These are the deadliest curves, filled with the legends of men, machines and immortality.
Join me for a tour of the giants of racing, from 1896 through the 1960's, and their pictures and stories.
Blood, victory, defeat and courage; often in the same race.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Tether car racing has a rich and interesting history, which we'll delve into. For now, I'm going to post one aspect that I find fascinating; the tether car dashes.

I'll expand on these over the next couple of days, but for now, here's a few to whet your appetite...

A great match for the sprint car above would have been the Maring custom set made by Stewart Warner in the 1940's. They were a speedo-tach combo, and they were the over-sized gauges, possibly the inspiration for such a detailed racer!

Both of the above are a dead-ringer for the dash below them of a real live, 1947 -era sprint car special, right down to the engine-turned dash panel and black-face Stewart Warner gauges. All three look full-scale, only the bottom one actually is.

This one up above is my favorite, because I'm such a Mopar fan. The detail is astounding when you consider that their model is based off of a half-year transition dash set, the 1933 Plymouth PC.

You rarely see this cluster, and to see it reconstituted on a toy is astounding and wonderful.